


The Waiting Game

by Peachesandplatinum



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: First Fic!, M/M, Pining, Sappy, This is the fluff I’ve been meaning to write, Tooth Rotting Fluff, Voltron, canon verse but not really?, keith - Freeform, keith kogane - Freeform, klance, lance - Freeform, lance mcclain - Freeform, now it’s finally here!, took some creative liberty lmaooo, vld
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27428158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peachesandplatinum/pseuds/Peachesandplatinum
Summary: Lance has always hated waiting.But when it comes to Keith, he’s gotta be a little patient.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Kudos: 24





	The Waiting Game

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first EVER fic, so please go easy on me (lol). Comments, constructive criticism, praise and kudos are all super appreciated! Hope you enjoy :) Special thanks to @im-not-reallyhere on tumblr for editing this for me!

The small boy squirmed in his seat. In an effort to keep himself entertained, he grabbed at the paracord friendship bracelet dangling from his wrist that he and his siblings had made the previous day. 

“Mama, when will Papa be done?” 

The woman looked down at her son with kind eyes. “Mijo, Papa will be out in just a second.”

The son continued to stir in his seat. He kept tugging at the dainty piece of jewelry adorning his wrist, and the cord began to stretch. 

“Lance, you’re going to ruin your bracelet.” 

The child let out a drawn out, dramatic sigh that slowly drifted into a whine. 

“But mamaaaa, I’m _booooooored_.” 

The bracelet finally let out a loud pop, and the beads scattered all over the floor. The mother let out a small, frustrated noise and began to pick up the beads along with the son. At that moment, the father came around the corner of the hallway, out to his family, and let out a small chuckle. 

“Let me guess, he was bored?” 

The mother threw her hands up in the air and shrugged good-naturedly, a small smile gracing her face. 

“Our Lance has always hated waiting, hasn’t he?” 

-

Lance _hates_ waiting. 

He was currently sitting in class, listening to Iverson drone on and on about _pilot_ this and _standards_ that. He was probably pissed off about something, but Lance didn’t have enough focus at the moment to care. It had been a week of waiting for his rival, with the stupid mullet and bad attitude, to return to class. He hadn’t seen him since last Monday, and Lance was starting to get a little worried. Strictly for rival purposes, of course. How would Lance be able to stay on his toes if he had no one to compete against? 

The two boys had been competing against each other since day one of class. Keith had been an instant, naturally talented pilot, as much as Lance hated to admit it. Lance made it his own personal mission to become the top of his class (right next to Keith, of course). From then on, it’s been Lance and Keith, neck and neck. 

But since Keith hadn’t returned to class in a week, it had only been Lance and His Thoughts, neck and neck. Lance was really beginning to feel like he hadn’t paid attention to class in a full week, his head overrun with worry for his (stupid and annoying and _oh my god where is he_ ) rival. 

Lance came back to reality when there was a loud thump on his desk. Iverson was bent over Lance’s desk, right in his face. 

“McClain, were you listening to a single word I was saying?” 

Funny how Lance’s brain can be filled with questions and worries about his rival, but when he’s called out in class, he can’t have a thought to save his life. 

Lance manages to pull the most sheepish smile he can. “Uh, something about... standards?”

Iverson nods and takes a few paces away from Lance’s desk, seemingly satisfied, before whirling back around.

“I was talking about standards, yes. The _standard_ of paying attention in class. Something you know nothing about, cadet.”

Lance slumps back in his seat as his peers make sounds of sympathy and sneers. He does his best to at least look like he’s paying attention for the remainder of class, despite his thoughts still being on a certain mullet-having, school-skipping rival. 

-

“Hey, what’s been up with you this week?” Pidge questioned Lance through a mouthful of food. Hunk made a face at the small crumbs that she spit out onto the table, then turned to Lance with concern.

“Yeah man, it really feels like you haven’t been yourself lately. What’s going on?”

Lance leaned forward onto the table and put his head in his hands, letting out a long groan. “You guys have to promise me that you won’t make fun of me.”

Hunk and Pidge both perked up and answered at the same time,

“Dude, we would never make fun of you!”  
“Lance, you know I can’t promise that.” 

Lance narrows his eyes at Pidge and turns to Hunk, giving him a soft smile and a mouthed thank you. 

“I just… I’ve just been worried about Keith. For rival purposes only, of course,” Lance rushes to add. “Have you guys, uh, seen or heard from him in awhile?” 

Pidge leans towards Lance and coos. “Awwh, Lance, you’re missing your boyfriend?” 

Lance feels his face and ears go hot. With rage, obviously. Not blushing or anything. Why would he blush over his rival? 

“He’s _not_ my boyfriend. And I don’t miss him, Pidge, I miss our rivalry.”

Pidge lets out a little snort of a laugh. “Fine, whatever. Wannabe boyfriend, husband in your dreams, whatever you wanna call it.”

Hunk, ever the mediator, tries to guide the two back to the issue at hand. “Lance, buddy, Keith was expelled. How have you not heard about this? It was a really big deal last week.”

Lance feels his stomach drop. Expelled means he can’t come back to the school, right? Or is that being suspended? Lance can’t remember the difference, and only remembers that he would’ve died if he had been faced with either because of the wrath he would have faced from his family. Oh god, what if Keith is dying at home because of expulsion-induced wrath? Lance doesn’t even know what Keith’s parents are like. What if they’re really strict and-

Lance is brought back to reality via Pidge snapping in his face. He blinks a couple times to come back to the real world and then swats Pidge’s hand out of his face. 

“Expelled? Expelled for what? What happened?” 

Hunk pipes up helpfully, “He got in a fight over something. Injured another kid pretty bad, actually. It was really surprising, I didn’t think Keith was the ‘fighting to the death’ type.” 

“Yeah, me neither,” Lance muttered, leaning forward to put his head down on the table. How was he supposed to keep up their rivalry if Keith had pretty much just forfeited? 

“Don’t worry Lance, there are plenty of fish in the sea,” Pidge said to accompany the hearty pat on the back she gave Lance. Lance let out an ‘oof’, lifted up his head to give Pidge one last glare, and put his head back down on the table in defeat.  
\- 

“Pidge, how did you get Keith to, like, talk to you?” 

Pidge looks up from her latest robot project and raises an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? Keith talks to you all the time.” 

Lance lets out a soft sigh. “No, we argue all the time. I mean, how did you connect with Keith?”  
At this point, Pidge pushes away her work entirely, focusing all of her attention on Lance with wide eyes. “Oh my god. Oh, my god, you’re actually doing it.” 

“What? Doing what?” Lance is now thoroughly unnerved. Pidge never puts down her work. Hell, even when the alarms in the castle are going off, she’s always trying to wrap up something while she’s running to the hangars. 

“You’re finally, _knowingly_ , chasing after Keith. You _like_ him.” 

Lance feels his face go red and crosses his arms. “No!”

Pidge flops back from where she was sitting on the ground to lay on her back with a dramatic huff. “Seriously, Lance? You’re still denying this? How much longer is this going to go on for?” 

Lance does not like Keith. So what if he was really worried about him when he left the Garrison? And so what if he got nervous when he finally saw him again in the desert and messed it up by playing the rival card? And so what if he finds himself focusing on the way Keith moves when they train? The way his movements are so fluid and graceful, but powerful at the same time. The way his eyes narrow and the way he bites his bottom lip when he’s focused, along with the way his dark eyebrows knit together. The way his hands grip his bayard. The way he laughs at dinner, at Lance’s jokes. It’s really subtle and if you blink, you’ll miss it, but the corners of his mouth definitely quirk up and his breath quickens for a brief second. The way Keith cares for the team, cares for everyone on it equally, and so what if Lance finds himself wishing that Keith would care about Lance just a little more than everyone else- 

Oh.  
_Oh._

“Holy crow.” 

Pidge is nodding at him slowly. “Yup. There it is. It’s okay, Lance, let it out.” 

“Oh god, I _do_ like Keith.” 

Pidge lets a toothy smile grace her face. “Yeah. Yeah you do. Now I’ll answer your question, now that you’ve come to terms with your Keith-crush.” 

She goes on to tell Lance about interests that he never even knew Keith had. Keith is a documentary fan, an artist, a dog lover. He really likes cooking and baking but is horrible at it, and really wants someone to teach him but is way too full of pride to ever ask. His favorite color is blue, weirdly enough. He’s an orphan, the most shocking fact out of Pidge’s speech, but also, it makes a lot of sense. Keith never talks about a family that he left behind on Earth, and now Lance knows the reason behind that. Pidge makes sure to advise Lance not to start with bringing up the fact that Keith doesn’t have parents, even though Lance wouldn’t have done that anyways, he has manners, thank you very much Pidge. When she finishes, Lance gives her a whole-hearted applause that she takes a sarcastic bow to. 

“Thanks, Pidge. That was… more advice than I was expecting, honestly.”

Pidge shrugs. “What can I say? I’m glad you’re finally going after him on purpose. Now, go win over your man and get out of my face already.”

\- 

It’s been a couple hours since his informational pep talk with Pidge, and Lance is pacing right outside of the ship’s common room. He knows Keith is there, being the night owl that he is. Everyone else has already gone to bed, and it’s only the two of them. Lance takes a deep breath, mentally prepares what he’s gonna say one last time, and walks around the corner into the room. 

And, of course, Keith’s eyes land on Lance and he forgets everything he was planning on saying. 

There’s a couple seconds of complete silence, which feels like hours to Lance, and then Keith finally speaks up. 

“Uh, what? Did you need something..?”

Keith’s half awake voice is a little gruff and low, and it makes Lance’s knees go weak. 

“I, uh, I- How about Mothman, am I right?”

Keith’s brows knit together in confusion, in the same way that they do when he's focused on the training deck. In the same way that Lance adores. “What? What about him?”

Lance clears his throat and starts to fidget with the sleeve on his shirt. “Well, he’s pretty cool, right?” 

The corners of Keith’s mouth start to rise up into a small smile. Lance could cry in relief. He’s always hated waiting through awkward silences.

“Yeah? Doesn’t seem like something you’d be into.” 

Lance sees the bait, even if it’s unintentional. Oh, I can work with this. 

“Well, actually, Keith, I’m not into it yet. Or, uh, I want to be, but I don’t know a lot about it. Teach me?” 

Lance gets Keith to huff out another laugh and he grins. Sweet, _sweet_ success. 

“You... want me to teach you about Mothman?” 

“Yeah!” Lance’s normally cocky demeanor begins to return to him. “It’d be a good team bonding exercise, don’t you think?” 

Keith smirks a little. “Alright, yeah. I can do that. If you’re up for it, we can start tonight? Right now? Tomorrow’s our day off anyways, Allura said it herself, we deserve a break.”

“You’re on, Mullet! What better way to relax than hanging with my teammate and learnin’ about the cryptids?” 

Keith lets out a slightly louder, genuine sounding laugh, tossing his head back a little, and Lance could melt into a puddle on the couch and die happy. 

-

Nighttime has become their time. 

Lance _hates_ waiting, and daytime has become torture. 

After everyone else has gone to bed, Lance and Keith make their way to the common room for their nightly movie-marathon. The two of them bring their blankets from their rooms to the couches and curl up for a long night. 

Keith settles down on the couch next to the one Lance is on. Lance looks over and debates speaking up. It can’t be _that_ weird, right? I mean, we’ve been doing this for a week or so. Friends share couches all the time, right? 

Lance must have been staring for a little too long, because now Keith’s eyes are meeting his own. Keith raises an eyebrow and smiles a little. “Is, uh, something wrong?” 

Lance rushes to speak, words falling out of his mouth before his brain catches up. “We should share a couch! Save space and all that! Save space out here, in space, on a spaceship! Spaceship of, of friendship-”

Keith stands up and strides to the couch, pushing Lance’s shoulder playfully. “All you had to do was ask, dumbass.”

Keith curls up next to Lance, throwing his legs to lay over Lance’s lap. Lance swears he can feel his heart in his throat, and can hear the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears. Keith must either feel none of this, or is just a brick wall with a stoic face. Damn, guy takes the whole “serious space ninja” thing way too far.

Lance swallows the lump in his throat and tries to focus on the movie. Or is it a documentary this time? Lance didn’t even look when he put it on. Keith snuggles into him further and gives a small, content sigh. Now that they’re relaxed and all curled up together, Lance notes just how good Keith smells. Which sounds weird, Lance knows this, but it’s honestly not the weirdest thought he’s had about his teammate in the past couple of weeks. Keith’s scent exactly matches his attitude - fiery, but also cold and distant, a lot like a campfire in the middle of autumn when it just starts to cool down for the season. There’s also a sweet note to the smell, like some kind of booze. It gives a heady feeling to the moment, and has Lance pleasantly dizzy. 

Lance looks down at Keith’s face, where his eyes are looking up at Lance, despite being snuggled into his chest. He’s got that signature challenging smirk dancing on his lips, but it’s a bit softer, fitting for the late night atmosphere. 

“What’re you thinkin’ about, Sharpshooter?” Keith murmurs as the glow of the TV hits his face, illuminating his features. “I don’t think you’ve been paying attention at all. I’ve been waiting for you to make some kind of commentary this whole time. Honestly, these are more entertaining to watch for the third time when you’re doing goofy voice-overs for the monsters.” 

Lance feels his heartbeat start to speed back up. Damn it. He had just gotten it back down. Well, as close as his heart rate gets to normal around Keith. 

“I, uh, was just thinking about how y- wait, did you say for the _third time_??” 

Keith raises an eyebrow. “Uh, yeah? I told you when we started this whole thing. I’ve already seen everything Pidge has managed to get her hands on out here in space.” 

Lance sputters for a couple seconds. “Then why are you here?? Watching these again with me?! God, you must be bored out of your mind-” 

Keith puts a hand in Lance’s face to stop his verbal spiraling, giving him an incredulous look. “Seriously? Lance, I wanted to hang out with you. Team bonding and all that?” Keith punctuates the last sentence with air quotes, something Lance knows Keith picked up from their hangouts. Cute. Keith’s eyebrows furrow and he leans towards Lance accusingly. “You didn’t just suggest this to mess with me or anything, right? This isn’t a way to ‘find my weak spots’ or whatever for the whole rivalry thing you’ve been stuck on for years?” 

Lance sits up a bit on the couch to match Keith’s stance. “Woah, hang on. No, this isn’t to mess with you! I wanted to hang out too, obviously.” Keith’s shoulders untense a little and Lance offers him a small smile. “I mean, who would I be to deny you a piece of all _this_?” Lance gestures to himself and raises an eyebrow. “I mean, everyone else gets their fair share of Lance-Time, but I think you deserve a little more, don’tcha think?” 

Keith leans his head to rest into his own palm and squints at Lance. “And why’s that, Lance? Why do I deserve extra?”

Lance shrugs, aiming to seem nonchalant and praying to God that he’s not failing at it. “You’re special, Keith. You’re just… different.” 

\- 

Keith had been waiting for Lance for what felt like a lifetime. 

Well, to be fair, a large part of his life had been spent around Lance, so the whole lifetime thing wasn’t that much of an exaggeration. From being in the Garrison for pilot training for a couple years, to being on the castle ship for god only knows how long, Lance had been there for pretty much all of Keith’s adult life. Honestly, Lance had been one of the only constant parts of Keith’s life - even if their dynamic had taken a different direction as of late. The shift from the weird, Lance-invented rivalry that Keith didn’t take entirely seriously to late night movie marathons and borderline cuddling was sudden and unexpected. Not that Keith is complaining. After all, he much preferred half-awake snuggly Lance to flinging-food-at-you or trying-to-one-up-you Lance. But, if Keith is being honest, he adores all of Lance’s sides. 

Which is why Keith has waited for Lance for _so long_. 

Currently, Keith is holding his breath and hoping that the long-awaited breakthrough has arrived. Lance just said he’s different. That’s got to be flirting, right? Why else would Keith be ‘different’? After hearing Lance say that Keith is special to him, Keith just knows his face has turned red. Damn, his cover’s really blown, isn’t it? He looks up to meet Lance’s eyes and sees a crooked smile gracing his face. 

“You’re blushing, Kogane.”

Yup. So much for Keith’s cover. But honestly, did Keith even want his cover to not be blown? This is what he’s been waiting for, isn’t it? So what is he so afraid of? 

Keith settles for flicking Lance in the forehead. “Yeah? What about it. You’re, uh, being sweet. Sue me.” 

Lance lets out a laugh. “You really are something, aren’t you, Keith?” 

Something about that phrase breaks something in Keith. This is the first time Keith has ever heard anything like that being said in such a positive, fond, almost sickly sweet way. It’s usually said in addition to sneers and insults, in less of an adoring tone and more of a ‘you really are… something, aren’t you?’ kind of way. 

Forget it. He's not waiting anymore. 

Keith surges forward and finally presses his lips to Lance’s. They’re soft, sweet, everything Keith has worked and waited for years for. Lance only hesitates for a fraction of a second, most likely in shock, before kissing back. They’re moving in tandem, like two halves of a whole. Only now Keith is really understanding what people in movies mean when they talk about a kiss feeling like fireworks. If movies can call scripted kisses fireworks, then this is the goddamn Fourth of July. 

Keith begrudgingly pulls back from the kiss slightly for breath, letting out a breathy laugh. Lance gives one of his own before trying to speak at the same time as Keith.

“That was-” 

“Oh my god, I just-” 

They both stop and laugh again, still not having caught their breath. 

“Go ahead.”

“No, no, you go ahead.” 

Despite giving the other the go-ahead, they both continue to speak at the same time. 

“I’ve waited forever to do th-“

“I’ve been waiting for you, for _me_ to find the guts to-” 

Lance lets out a full belly laugh this time.

“God, I hate waiting.”

Keith meets his eyes and pulls him in by the collar of his shirt.

“Lance, trust me. I will never let you wait again.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well, hope you enjoyed this cute lil fic! I'll definitely be writing more, so stay tuned. In the mean time, you can follow me on tumblr @peachesandplatinum :)


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